EV Drivers are driving longer distances and worrying less about range anxiety.

By Grant Gerke, Senior Communications Specialist at the Electric Vehicle Association

The average driving distance per journey for electric vehicles is getting longer. New research from Wejo, a data services company, suggests that EVs and gas cars will be neck and neck when it comes to average driving distances within the next 18 months. For years, the media and automakers have thrown around the phrase EV range anxiety and how drivers could be disusaded from buy electric vehicles due to the small battery packs and limited range.

The Wejo data “found that EV drivers have extended the distance of their journeys by an impressive 5.5% on average between 2021 and 2022. Meanwhile, ICE drivers have been driving shorter distances than years prior, with a decreased journey average of -1.6% compared to 2021.” These results are based on more than 11 million vehicles across the U.S.”

"It might also signal continued increases in adoption of EVs in the coming year, particularly as more makes and models are made available by manufacturers," says Sarah Larner, Executive VP of strategy & Innovation at Wejo.

Some reasons for increased driving distances in the U.S. could be new EV models with larger battery pack ranges — 250 or more — more charging infrastructure, and Tesla. Tesla has an EV market share of 57% in the U.S.

EV adoption in 2023 is trending upwards — pure battery electric vehicles. Automotive News reported that 87,708, or 7.1 % of all car sales in the U.S. were all-electric vehicles in January 2023. This excludes plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales, too. In January 2022, EV market share was at 4.3 % compared to the overall car market in the U.S.

EV Owners Moving Past Range Anxiety

First-time EV drivers may be learning more about their daily driving habits and this could be a reason for the increase in driving distances. In 2021, EV Adoption showed how 99.2% of U.S. daily trips are less than 100 miles. See below:

EV Charging Stations Being Added

With VW’s dieselgate and the passage of the Inflation Act, charging networks have been adding stations across the U.S. According to the DoE’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, charging station availability has increased from 2021 to 2022.

Increases in availability:

• New Jersey - 61% increase in charging stations

• Michigan - 56% increase in charging stations

• Illinois - 49% increase in charging stations

• Arkansas - 48% increase in charging stations

• Ohio - 43% increase in charging stations (good work Ohio!)

While charging stations are being added, more work needs to be done with uptime for charging stations. Some charging networks are experiencing challenges with equipment for charging stations and some rollouts in 2022 saw non-working stations. Going forward, the Inflation Act requires a charging station uptime of 97%. However, the uptime requirement in the Act has not been standardized. This means a charging network operator may see see a charging station is online (uptime), but the charging station is not accessible to the EV driver and means no charging capability.

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